Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-04-23

the other side of the room; and then at
length, with a piquant little nod of her golden
head, she went Off, looking, he thought as he
watched her retreating figure, about as
healthy, graceful and generally satisfactory
young woman as a man could wish TO see.
"Take glass of grog, Capt Mel said the
old man, pushing the square bottle toward
him; you'll need it after the mauling that
brute gave you. By the way, | haven't
thanked you enough for saving my Besslei
But | do thank you, yes, that do must
tell you that Bessie is my favorite niece.
Never was there such a girl-never. Moves
like a springbuck, and what an eye and formi
Work. too-she1l 10 as much work as three
There's no nonsense about Bessie, none at all.
Shes not fine lady, Tor all her fine looks"
"The two sisters seem very different said
John.
"Ay, you're right there" said the old man.
you'd never think that the same blood ran
in their veins, would you! There's three
years between them, that's one thing. Bes-
sizes the youngest, you see-she's just 30 and
jess is %. Lord, to think that it is twenty
three years since that girl was bornl And
theirs was queer story, too"
"lndeedl' said his listener, interrogatively.
"Ay," he went on absently, knocking out
his pipe and refilling it out of a big, brown
jar of coarse cut Boer tobacco; an tell it to
you If you like; you are going to live in the
house, and you may as well know it. | am
sure, Capt Mel, that it will go no further
You see was born in England; yes. and well
born, too | come from fambiidgeShire-
from that fat fenland down round Ely. My
father was a clergyman. Well, he wasn't
rich and when was 20 he gave Inc his bless
ing, thirty sovereigns in my pocket and my
passage to the Cape; and | shook his hand.
God bless him. and off ! came, and here in
the old colony and this country | have been
for fifty years, for ! was 10 yesterday. Well,
I'll tell you more about that another time;
its about the girls I'm speaking now. After
| left hOGle-twenty years after or hard on
tiny dear old father married again, a
youngish woman with some money, but be
meath him somewhat in life, and by her he
had one son and then died. Well, it was but
little | heard of my half brother, except that
be had turned out very badly, married and
taken TO drink, till one night some twelve
years ago, when a strange thing happened. |
was sitting here IN this very room-ay, in
this very chair-for this part of the house was
up then, though the wings weren't built-and
smoking my pipe and listening TO the lashing
OF the ram, for II was very foul night, when
suddenly an old pointer dog | had, named
Ben, gave bark.
"'Lie down, Ben; it's only the Eafflrs,
said |.
Just then l thought heard faint sort Of
rapping at the door, and Ben barked again.
So got up and opened it, and III came two
little girls, wrapped up in old shawls or some
surh gear. Well. shut the door, looking
out first to see if there were any more outside,
and then | stood and stared at the two little
things with my mouth open. There they
stood, hand in hand, the water dripping
from both o. them, and the eldest might
have been II, and the second about S. They
didn't say anything, but the eldest turned
and took the shawl ami hat off the younger
that was Bessie-and there was her sweet
little face and her golden hair and damp
enough both of them were, and she put her
thumb IN her mouth, and stood and looked at
me till began 10 think that was dreaming.
phase, sir said the biggest, at last, lis
this Mr.. Croft's house-Mr Croft, South
African Repuhlicn
Yes, little miss, this is his house. and this
is the South African Republic, and | am he.
And now who might you be, my dearsF
answered
If You please, sir, we are your nieces, and
We have come to You from England
"Whatr | halloaed, startled out of my
wits, as well might be
On, sir, says the poor little thing, clasp
,,,,r h..,
away. Bessie Is so wet and cold and hungry,
too, she isn't fit to go any farther
"And she set to work to cry, whereon the
little one cried too, from fright and cold and
sympathy.
~Well, Of course, took them both TO the
fire and set them on my knees and halloaed for
Hebe, the Old Hottentot woman who did my
cooking, and between us we undressed them
and wrapped them up in some old clothes
and fed them with soup and wine, so that in
half an hour they were quite happy and not
a bit frightened
"'And now, young ladies' said, come
and give me kiss, both Of you, and tell me
how You came here
And this Is the tale they told me-com-
pleted, of course from what learned after
VAN anu al 'f'll tll- IL H. II S'FlllS itldt
my half brother married a Norfolk lady-a
sweet young thing-and treated her like a
dog. He was drunken rascal, was my half
brother, and he beat his poor wife and shame
fully neglected her, and even i'll treated the
two little girls, till at last the poor woman,
weak as she was from suffering and i'll health
could bear 1t no longer, ami formed the wild
idea of escaping to this country and throw
my herself upon my protection. 1t viii show
how desperate she must have been. She
scraped together and borrowed some money!
enough TO pay for three second class passages
to Natal and a few pounds over, and one day,
when her brute Of a husband was away on
the drink and gamble, she slipped on board a
sailing ship III the London docks, and before
he knew anything about it they were well ont
to sea. But it was her last effort,
poor, dear soul, and the excitement of
it finished her. Before they had
been ten days at sea she sank and died, and
the two poor children were left alone. And
what they must have suffered, or rather
what poor jess must have suffered, for she
was old enough to feel, God only knows But
| can tell YOU this, she has never got over the
shock to this hour. 1t has left its mark on
Ter, sir. But, let people say what they will,
there is power that looks after the helpless.
and that power took those poor, homeless,
wandering children underits wing. The cap
tain of the vessel betriended them, and when
at last they got to Durham some of the passen-
gers made a subscription and got an old Boer,
who was coming up this way with his wife TO
the Transvaal, to take them under his charge
The Boer and his vrouw treated the children
fairly well but they did not do one Thug
more than they hargained for At the turn
from the Wakkerstrom road that YOU came
along to-day, they put the children down, for
they had no luggage, and told them if they
went along there they would come TO Mein-
beer Croft's house. That was in the middle
of the afternoon, and they were until O'Clock
getting here, poor little dears, for the track
<was fainter then than it is now and they
wandered off into the veldt and would have
persisted there IN the wet and cold had they
not CHANGED to see the lights of the house
And that was how my nieces came here
Capt, Mel And here they have been ever
since, except for a couple of years when
sent them to the Cape for schooling, and a
lonely man was when they were away
And how about the FatlprN asked Johr